The high river water and flooded backyard of Gary Lobdell's Mecosta County home is shown in this file photo from Jan. 31, 2013. (Latara Appleby | MLive.com)

BIG RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, MI -- Meteorologists expect an ice jam on the Muskegon River that caused minor flooding in Mecosta County to remain relatively unchanged through the weekend.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch through Saturday evening for Mecosta County due to an ice jam in the area of 183rd and 12 Mile Road, north of the Rogers Dam and southeast of Big Rapids. The affected area is situated along a bend in the river and is prone to ice jams.

As of Friday evening, water had not impacted homes or streets, said Brandon Hoving, a meteorologist with the weather service. Mecosta County Emergency Management personnel Friday clarified earlier reports to say Riverside Drive had not flooded and water was only approaching the road, Hoving said.

Crews are closely monitoring water levels, which for the most part remained stable Friday.

The jam should remain the same as the area heads into a weekend of predicted low temperatures around 20 degrees and highs in the mid- to upper-30s, Hoving said, prefacing the prediction with a reminder that ice jam activity can be difficult to forecast.

"In order for ice to grow even further, you need to have average temperatures at or below 20 degrees. My current thinking is we're not going to see much ice expansion on the river," he said. "Temperatures aren’t going to be quite cold enough to help ice grow further."

The marker Gary Lobdell uses to monitor the water level outside his home off 183rd Avenue hasn't indicated a change since 2 p.m. Friday.

"If you looked very closely, you could see the ice moving but that’s come to a halt," Lobdell said.

Lobdell said the current situation is mild compared to "devastating" flooding in late January, when an ice jam caused severe flooding and at least $3 million in damages to homes. About 30 families were displaced.

Lobdell called it a normal occurrence for him and his neighbors.

"You never really get accustomed to it and you don’t like it, but there's not much you can do about it," Lobdell said. "The river during the summer, when it's normal and down, it's absolutely gorgeous out here, it's beautiful. You just don’t want to leave that. But this kind of stuff I’d love to leave."

Lobdell, who has lived on the river for 29 years, and Hoving said it's early in the season for an ice jam.

"Usually we start to see ice jams toward end of December and early January," Hoving said.

Next week's predicted temperatures in the 30s and 40s should provide the warm up necessary to break up the ice, Hoving said.

Until then, emergency management personnel will keep a close eye on river levels.

Angie Jackson covers public safety and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at ajackso3@mlive.com, and follow her on Twitter.